The Vocabulary of Praise - Psalm 145

so doing that I just want to give a

shout out

to Matt Thomas uh for filling in last

week he did an excellent job I was

actually worshiping with you from my car

and uh I love the worship part the the

singing uh because I got surround sound

in my my Honda Pilot and so I cranked

that thing all the way up to max volume

and I don't know if you know it or not

but these two microphones right here are

aimed at you and so I could hear all of

you singing and it was just this

incredible worship experience that I had

in my vehicle if you'd have told me back

in 1997 when I graduated high school

that I'd be able to to watch a church

service from my car and participate in

it um I would have been like you are

crazy but that is exactly what happened

uh last week so shout out to Matt shout

out to you for singing uh shout out to

all the people that have been really

positive with their feedback about this

uh sermon series too received emails and

comments and it just seems like a lot of

you are really hungry to understand what

the Bible has to say about praise about

worship about music I've had so many

people say that they have you know been

in the church for 20 30 40 years and

they've never heard a sermon on how to

actually worship through music in a uh

Church setting and so I think it's

pretty cool that uh you all seem to be

pretty hungry for that now that said I

grew up in churches like this one uh

very very similar to to churches like

this and uh what I mean by that is

churches with generations of tradition

that are built into the very DNA of the

church I've spent decades studying these

wonderful churches that have stood the

test of time because kind of like Paul

was called to minister to the Greeks I

feel like I was called uh to minister to

churches that have these rich histories

to pull from I like to kind of joke my

my peers uh they Pastor churches that

are a lot younger like church Plants and

Things and they're like man it's so nice

we don't have to fight through all those

walls of tradition to do stuff and I'm

like yeah but you meet in a y CA and you

got to set out chairs and like I'll take

walls of tradition over the worship

service smelling like a feet in a locker

room you know like so we kind of go back

and forth on who's got it better but I I

think at the end of the day that I got

it a lot better than they do um anyway

uh so one thing that I've learned though

over two decades of serving in a church

just like this one is that there is no

possible way for me to curate a musical

worship experience that appeals to the

personal preferences of every single

person and all of the backgrounds that

are represented in this room like there

are well over a hundred of you and you

all come from different places and you

all have different preferences now try

as I might I just can't make everyone

happy and that's tough for me because I

I am Mr Middle Ground I am captain

compromise I believe that if we sit down

at a restaurant restaurant with a bunch

of sizzling fajitas right in front of us

that we can find common ground on

anything just spend some time together

with some good food we'll figure it out

but the antithesis to this thesis is

that uh music worship music specifically

uh is not something that we can all

really agree on and it makes sense right

because music since the very beginning

of time has been an extremely personal

and culturally identifying part The

Human Experience if you listed out the

top five things that people kind of

Clump up around music is going to be in

that top five somewhere in every

conversation because music is personal

music is something that God spoke into

your heart at your birth children

remember songs before they can even

speak because of the fact that music

speaks to your soul in a very very

powerful way now the thing is is that

when we uh when we try to to appeal to

the various personalities and

preferences uh we we often fail and so

churches that try to Super serve a

specific audience usually wind up uh

failing to serve a wider audience and so

that's why here at this church we

believe that a worship should be

throughout the ages um so the good news

for us as worship leaders and as your

pastor is that God understands how

important worship music is for our lives

and he gives us no less than seven which

by the way is the number of perfection

in the Bible he gives us seven specific

words for praise in the Old

Testament so if we can grasp the Heart

of Worship that is contained within

these words if we can expand our

definition of what is possible through

musical praise if we can obey God in the

songs that we pick and the way that we

sing them then look out world there's

going to be a Revival and it's going to

start right here at saers Creek Baptist

Church because believe it or not we're

doing something very different than a

lot of the other churches are doing in

this area and yes it's challenging but

my goodness isn't it rewarding to let

praise take center stage in your heart

so for example Psalm 149 we started out

there hello which means to be

clamorously foolish in our praise so

there is a time in a church worship

service even in the Church of the Frozen

chosen where it looks like you just

watched the end of Titanic before you

walked into this

building even in the church like that

you can still you should still have time

to get excited about salvation because

when there is Praise In Your Heart the

Bible says there is a sword in your

hands we talked about yah to worship

with extended hands God stretched out

his hands on the cross for us and in

Scripture it tells us that we should

raise our hands from time to time and

worship of him because when you raise

your hands friends the bible promises

when you raise your hands when you

surrender to God In Praise it welcomes

Heaven's power into your situation just

like calling for the waiter or the

waitress at the restaurant hey hey we

need some more bread sticks over here

you know when you raise your hand God

comes toward

you we talked about Toda which also

means to raise your hands but this one's

a little bit different because

specifically it says that we should

raise our hands in praise and the hands

that we should raise are hands of

Thanksgiving and

hands

of

confession now it's very important to

understand that a worship service is not

always a party we started this whole

series by saying there is a season for

everything and there is a season where

we don't just come up in here and scream

and yell and have a good time and Praise

Jesus there is a season where we come in

here and we raise our hands in

confession we say God I have sinned

against you and I'm so sorry I hate that

please forgive me help me to do better

and what the Bible says is if you got

that hand of Thanksgiving then you got

that hand of confession raised and you

got this onew punch that's going to be

able to knock out anything that comes

against you so so far we've learned that

diversity of Praise does four things

number

one

praise is for God not

self when you sing a worship song it is

not the same as singing your favorite

song in a car okay because that song is

for you that that song but this song the

one you sing in the church service in

the worship service it's not for you

it's for God but when you sing it to God

guess what the side effect the benefit

of that is it brings joy to your heart

so number one our worship is for God not

self number two the songs that we sing

should be directed by the Holy

Spirit the songs that we sing should be

directed by the Holy Spirit that's why

Lynn and the choir spend time in Bible

study and prayer throughout the week as

they select the songs for the worship

service because they are submitting

themselves to the Holy Spirit number

three the posture of your praise

actually

matters and I know we haven't got all

the way through all these words yet but

not every word has you with your hands

in the air so if you're kind of like me

and you're more of a little T-Rex down

here or or if you're if you're Pockets

you can do pockets that's fine God never

says you're a sinner if you do Pockets

because the posture of your praise is

representative of what's going on in

your heart you might walk in here one

day and you've just had the worst week

of your life and if you walked in here

and threw your hands in the air and

pretended like everything was all right

you would be actually sinning against

God because that's not where your

heart's at if you just need to come in

here and be a wall flower in the back

and put your hands in your pockets and

lean against the wall and just listen to

other people praising God that is fine

the posture of your worship though does

matter and it should match the condition

of your heart and then the last one it's

okay to add new elements of worship to

your repertoire it's okay I get I get so

caught listening to 80s and 90s music

it's like I just stopped liking music in

the year 2000 I don't know what happened

to me if I have a choice I'm going to go

back to that why because those were my

formative years those are things that

speak to me and it's a challenge for me

to expand and listen to these more

modern an artist because I kind of like

the old stuff better you know but I've

learned over time that I don't want to

become set in my ways I don't want to

stop growing and so I force myself to

listen to new things and try new things

so that I can continue to develop and

it's the same thing that we do in our

worship Services as well we're not

taking away the thing that you love

we're just trying to add something to it

so let's pray and then we'll get started

in our word for today

father in Ephesians chapter

Ephesians 5 · chapter mention

5 you very clearly tell us how we should

worship you say that we should speak to

one another in

Psalms in

hymns and spiritual

songs you tell us that we should sing

and make music in our hearts to the Lord

so

father I pray that throughout this

seven-part series as we study these

seven words that you would allow us to

come with open minds and challenge

ourselves with some higher critical

thinking to to learn all the intricacies

of Praise from the Bible so that we will

have what we need when we needed to

praise you in the appropriate way at the

appropriate time father help us to not

get locked into one specific thing but

Lord to be sensitive enough to the holy

spirit that we will worship you the way

that you desire us to

worship speak to Lynn speak to our choir

speak to our our worship leaders speak

to the band help them to always know the

thing that you want them to present to

us so that you can meet us where we are

so we can worship you and have that

victory that you promis all of us

Lord thank you for your blessings I pray

that you would speak loudly from your

word today in Jesus name I pray amen all

right speaking is speaking loudly we're

going to talk about that today because

today's word is shabbach everybody say

it with me shabbach shabbach I Like it

Loud word powerful word and it means to

address in a loud tone so when your kids

are acting up you shabbach don't you

yeah to get their attention you gotta

you got to speak a little bit louder

than they do in order to draw them in

well that's kind of what this word

means are you ever like me and uh you

get excited talking about something like

like John kid will come in my office and

we'll get to talking about wrestling and

it's just like me and him in the office

no one else is even in the building and

I I'll get so excited talk my voice just

gradually gets louder and louder why

because I'm excited to talk about that

specific subject it's something that I'm

passionate about and then I catch myself

I'm like am I screaming he's like yeah

you know like sorry sorry we'll wound up

I remember back in the day my dad had

this old blue S10 back in the 1980s and

we'd go on rides together and it was U

like something would come on the radio

that he liked he was all into Ann Murray

I don't know if you remember her or not

he loves some Anne Murray so when that

song came on he was going to be singing

right but then every now and then he'd

let me get hold of the Dow by the way it

was a little Dow on there um then he let

me get hold of the DI and I would go to

the radio station that I liked and we'

hear some some beach boys or some de

leopard or something like that and I

would turn up the volume and those

crusty little 6 and 1/2 inch woofers in

the door would start moving dust would

be flying off the doors and but the cool

thing was it was like no air

conditioning so you always had the

windows cranked by the way cranked um

down so be loud in the cab and you could

sing as loud as you want cuz nobody

beside you could hear you cuz he had

that wind noise right so like you know

everybody's going surf

like that would come on and I'd be

singing I'm I'm I live in West

Virginia guess what they don't do in

West

Virginia I loved the song though I was

passionate about it and so I would sing

when it would come on the radio and that

singing was from a place of passion so

this word shabbach it it means loud

tones produced by

Passion because you can yell at somebody

if you're mad at them that's not what

God is talking about here you can raise

your voice for all the wrong reasons but

this specific word it means that you get

loud because you're passionate about

what you're talking about it also means

that it's the result of preparation for

a movement so shabbach means that this

is a a result of preparation for a

movement I used to play tennis it was my

second favorite sport to play and you

know when you first start off you just

kind of hit the ball back and forth but

when you get a little bit better at

tennis you you make the tennis noise

everybody knows the tennis noise

right it sounds like you're in a fight

you know but you if you want to be good

at it you have to do that you have to

make the noise when you hit the tennis

ball we got any uh powerlifters in here

anybody that maxes out from time to

time wow bunch of weaklings in the world

plan of Fitness is right down there it's

$10 a month I mean come

on when you max out what do you do you

get the you get the weights you know and

and you can't quite get it up on the

bench press so you

go right you shout you get loud and

what's it it gives you that motivation

you need to push up the weights why

because using your breath is

helpful you breathe in and you breathe

out

you breathe

in and you push

out listen to Psalm

145 we're going to talk about

Shabbat and how you you breathe

in and you shout out and when you do

that you're expecting a movement of

God how many people came in here don't

answer but how many people came in here

today just because this is what you do

on Sundays

there are people that understand this

word that came in here today and they

sang the worship songs because they

expect a movement of God they breathe in

they shout out and they expect God to

move so Psalm 145 verse one you breathe

in then you breath it out you shout it

out you say I exalt you my God God the

king and bless your name forever and

ever then you breathe

in you shout out I will bless you every

day I will praise shabbach your name

forever and ever breathe

in say it out the Lord is great and

highly praised his greatness is

unsearchable all one generation will

declare your Works to the next and will

Proclaim your Mighty

acts I I will speak of your splendor and

glorious majesty and your wondrous works

then last one they will proclaim the

power of your all inspiring acts and I

will declare your

greatness that's what praise is we come

to church and we sing songs because we

want to declare the greatness of God

it's time for me to shabbach to

passionately declare the Lord's

greatness as I prepare for a movement of

God in my life this praise connects me

to an outpouring of God and his Spirit

Jesus says ask seek knock and it will be

given to you when you come in here and

sing a praise song you are asking you

are seeking and you are knocking on the

door of God and he's like all right I

got a moment for you I have a blessing

for you there's two types of time in the

Old Testament there's Kronos time which

is very simply it's like 1: p.m. or 400

p.m. it's Monday it's Tuesday whatever

then there's this other type of time

it's called chyos time and chyros time

is these God specific moments in the

timeline of a person in the timeline of

a church in the timeline of a community

in the timeline of a Nation when God

desires to show himself in strong

ways how do we get there we seek nearly

every book of the Bible tells you to

seek God I think there are like four

books in the entire Bible all 66 there

are like four that don't have a verse in

there about seeking God every other book

tells you to seek God this is God

inviting us to take part in these holy

moments look at 2 Chronicles

2 Chronicles 15:14

15:14 scripture says they they took an

oath to the

Lord in what type of a voice

in a loud

voice I wish all those old ladies at

that church I used to go to back in the

day that told me to be

quiet would read this one of course my

loud voice was just me talking to my

friends about stuff that didn't really

pertain to the sermon but that's

okay they took an oath to the Lord in a

loud voice with shouting with trumpets

with the Rams sword and all of Judah

rejoiced over the oath for they had SW

warn it wholeheartedly they had sought

him with all sincerity and he was found

by them so the lord gave them

what rest on every side so they Shout to

the Lord and the Lord gives them rest

this is an active approach toward God

this is not some some passive thing

where it's like well I guess if if God

wants to show up and bless me and I

guess if God wants to save me I I guess

if God wants to heal me I guess if God

wants to meet with me I guess if God

wants to to speak to me I I guess he can

do it see that's that's that's a passive

approach that is not at all what is

happening in this scripture this is a

active Pursuit Of God this is when our

eyes are open and our ears are tuned and

our hearts are oriented and our voices

are singing the greatness of God this is

when we are seeking him and expecting

him to move I I I had a chance this week

to start my uh a new job at Mid-Atlantic

Christian University I'm a professor

there so guess what to get a degree you

got to go through

me see y'all y'all can choose to be here

or not they don't have a choice they

want the degree got to go through this

guy and I teach uh biblical

counseling and in biblical counseling I

talk about Jesus at you may have noticed

I'm a Bible nerd I love to talk about

the Bible I love to talk about Jesus I

love speaking about how Jesus is the

greatest counselor of all time and how

he he gives us our identity and he gives

us our purpose and he he solves our

problems and he's got a word for every

situation of life that you can go

through I I like to I was pointing out

like in Hebrews that we have this great

high priest that we can go to that's

been through every single thing you can

imagine he's been homeless he's been he

he died you know he's been through

everything and he's got a word for you

and your counsel and I'm speaking with

all this passion and there's these kids

guess where they're

sitting on the front row these kids are

on the front row you know what they're

doing they're taking notes man they are

burning up the John kite they use five

star notebooks and pencils in my

classroom it's unbelievable I thought

they'd all have laptops over half of the

students take notes the oldfashioned way

it did my heart good but anyway so their

pen their pencils are just burning up on

the paper writing down everything that

I'm saying to them and then you have

these other students guess where they're

sitting y they're in the

back they got their phones out and

they're checking Tik Tok and whatever

else and they're just like hey can you

just uh tell me the stuff I need to pass

the test so I can get out of this class

and here I am pouring out my heart and

they could care less they're not active

participants in the

class you can lead a horse to water but

you can't make it drink right well

that's what these students are doing

they're being it's crazy because they're

all stressed out they're all anxious

they're all suffering they're all

hurting in some way or

another and the opportunity to have an

outpouring of God's spirit is right

there in front of them being

passionately spoken to to them and

they'd rather see what's going on on

their social media than listen to the

thing that could give them

rest people who

praise they want to be brought to life

those students in the front row that are

writing down all that stuff about Jesus

they want to be brought to life they

don't want to miss an opportunity to

become more like Jesus they don't want

to look like they used to look they they

want to look like Jesus they they don't

want to look like the person that Jesus

rescued them from anymore they want to

look like Jesus and so they're there and

they're active and they're participating

and they're

praising but in church just like in the

classroom you can see the people who

lack the

passion I took my my son to uh

orientation this summer at the

University that over in Western Carolina

and uh they had a student night and they

did this thing called a silent

you ever seen that you seen that it's

kind of crazy isn't it they they give

Everybody headphones and they play the

music through the headphones but not out

loud in the room so when you initially

walk into the room and you don't have

the headphones it looks like a bunch of

crazy people cuz they're all dancing and

having a good time and you're like what

is going

on but I feel like there's some people

in the church sometimes that they they

come in and they just can't hear

the music for whatever reason and

everybody around them is praising and

they're like what is this is

weird they we all look like crazy people

to them because they're not able to hear

the music and so God is like hey today

maybe you need to put on your spiritual

headphones maybe you need to listen as

well why because it's good for you

Joshua chapter 6 verse

Joshua 6:20

20 so the troops

what they Shout shouted and the Rams

Horn sounded and when they heard the

blast of the Rams Horn the troops gave a

great and what

happened they did the shouting and God

did the

fighting that's why on the first day of

the week we gather together and we

praise the name of Jesus we we speak

with loud tones passionately about Jesus

expecting him to do something for us

because we know throughout the week that

we're going to have to go to the ball

field we're going to have to go to the

gym we're going to have to go to the

classroom and we are called into battle

and all of those areas we are there to

fight for uh for to advocate for other

people we are there to love them and

serve them and give to them we are there

to share the gospel when all the enemies

want us to be quiet it is a battle and

so we have to be prepared for the battle

and the way you prepare for the battle

is you come to this place and you say

with a loud voice you sing these songs

of praise expecting Jesus to knock down

those walls ahead of you so that on

Tuesday when you have the opportunity to

share the gospel and invite your friend

to church you will actually be able to

do so because you spent time in Praise

on

Sunday now here's the frustrating part

for people like me and anybody else

that's in a spiritual leadership

position sometimes you want Jesus more

for someone than they actually want him

for themselves

they're like no I'd rather go at it

alone I'd rather just rely on my own

ability to be a good husband to be a

good coach to be a good parent to be a a

good employee to be a good

friend and I wish I wish that I could

impart passion into other people but I

simply cannot do that but what I can do

is I can praise God and trust that real

praise is actually

infectious Psalm chapter 100 verse one

Psalms 100 · chapter mention

let the pastor shout triumphantly to the

Lord let the worship director shout

triumphantly to the Lord let Matt

brenick shout triumphantly to the I love

when he gets to shout and this awesome

now what's it say let

the the whole

earth that that includes you that

includes me our job is to shout

triumphantly to the Lord Isaiah

Isaiah 12:4

12:4 give thanks Proclaim his name make

the works known among the peoples

declare that his name is exalted sing to

the Lord for he has done glorious things

let this be known throughout the whole

earth cry out and shabbach and sing

citizen of Zion for the Holy One of

Israel is among you in his greatness so

what happens is people hear us praised

they hear us Lift High the mighty and

beautiful name of Jesus Christ and they

are then invited into that movement of

God that shabbach that passionate

expectation and when they get a taste of

Jesus and know of his goodness they

don't want anything else literally once

you taste Jesus and his goodness nothing

else on this Earth will ever satisfy

your

soul where's Sandra at I've had s

Brinkley's country hand

biscuits so guess what I don't want your

country hand

biscuits I want hers why because hers

are perfect she's ruined me for Life

there will never be a better country

hand biscuit than the one that Sandra

Brinkley makes for me I have tasted of

his goodness and yeah I'll eat some

other ones from time to time so if you

want to bring them that's fine but but

I'm going to tell you right now I'm not

going to like him quite as much is I

like

hers once you taste the hope that comes

exclusively from Jesus Christ you will

want nothing else but him you will want

to seek him you will want to praise him

Psalm 1454 we've already read it but it

says one generation will declare your

Works to the next and will Proclaim your

Mighty acts see how this works it

spreads shabbach spreads from one

generation to the next we don't sh shout

at these teenagers even though sometimes

they need

it car's like I shout at her all the

time no no no when they come to church

and they want to praise and worship in a

way that might be a little bit different

than ours we don't shout at them we

Shout with them declaring what God has

done and you know what we're doing we're

teaching them to do the same so one day

when she's a worship leader she'll be

able to do the the same thing she'll

inspire a whole another generation to

come along and declare the goodness of

God Psalm

47 verse one what are his first three

words oh my

goodness that's like next level stuff

right there I don't even we might not

want to talk about that I mean doing

this is one thing but you start oh my

gosh

oh clap your hands all you people now

again let me say that we don't have to

do this to every song all the time there

are seasons for everything but when the

spirit leads and we want to declare the

goodness of God it is perfectly okay for

us to clap our hands and I've seen a few

people doing that and shout out to you

for being willing to do what the spirit

is leading you to do clap your hands all

you people and Shout To God with a

jubilent cry for the Lord the most high

is all inspiring a great king over the

whole

earth Russell Johnson great Pastor he he

said that people ask him why that we

need to seek God if God's literally

everywhere and his response is he says

well it's the same reason you actually

have to apply for a job even though

they're jobs everywhere he say the same

reason that people are everywhere but

you still have to go and make the friend

you have to engage God is found by those

who are looking for

him friends you

cannot and will not seek something that

you are not passionate

about you cannot and you will not seek

something that you aren't passionate

about what did Jesus say he said if

anyone

has a passion for me if anyone desires

me then they need to deny themselves

take up their cross and follow

him see when you're passionate about

Jesus you're going to show up early

you're going to stay late you're going

to give of your resources you're going

to lift up your hands of Praise you're

going to make worship Services a

priority you you just can't get enough

of the scripture you're like when's the

next Bible study when's the next small

group when's the next opportunity for me

to learn or to teach see passion is a

choice where you prefer God to every

other option that is available to you

and and once you get this you won't ever

want to go back to that dry routine

formula based religion or that hollow

purposeless life that you lived before

because those cheap imitations will no

longer satisfy you when there is a

passionate root in your heart that is

connected to Jesus Christ when you

praise and you actually expect a

movement of

God then God will show

up but passion must be cultivated if you

could bring up that slide Russell

Johnson

again he says this is what passion is

it's your

attention plus your engagement

minus your

cynicism I've been married for 23 years

and I'm going to tell you the truth

today my wife and I do not wake up and

naturally love each

other as much as we did 23 years

ago sorry for all you young people that

think it goes in a different direction

but it kind of doesn't at least that's

not my experience and our marriage was

put to the test this last last week when

we moved my son into his his dorm

room cuz my wife packed his car and

packed my car and she asked me to do one

thing get the rubber

mallet one little thing is all I had to

do and so we get to the dorm room and

she's like where's the rubber mallet and

I say it's at 2349 deal your

drive in Elizabeth City laid out on a

table so I would would not forget

it so she says well we got a loft his

bed and now remember there are 20,000

students on this campus and a lot of

them are moving in so I got to be in his

room good set up and out in a certain

amount of time so she's like we need to

LOF the bed he can't have the bed he

needs his desk under the bed I'm like

sure he needs a desk under the bed let's

LOF the bed how hard could that be

without a rubber mallet

okay friends it is very hard to Loft a

bed without a rubber mallet I don't care

how strong your hands are you cannot hit

that thing hard enough to make that bed

come loose and so I had to go next door

to the ra and they had to track down a

rubber mallet and I came back in the

room and I start to to Loft the bed and

of course I I've never lofted a bed I

don't know how to do it the thing is

collapsing on me I'm like Susan hold

that piece Eli hold that piece I'm

trying to hold this piece and we're

trying to work it and she's like she's

like you're in a bond I'm like I know

I'm in a bond I'm married to

you hey it was 90° trees it was hot I

was sweating I forgot the mou through

the Overflow of the heart the mouth

speaks I've confessed that sin I took

her out to a great dinner I

apologized I got her ice cream we are

good all right but in that

moment in that moment my marriage was

tested by the way the bed is lofted we

have photographic evidence of it only

took an hour and 15 minutes no big deal

here's the deal thank God that love is

not a

feeling it is a

discipline so if I will

discipline myself to give attention and

passion and love toward my wife then I

will become a better husband if I

discipline myself to have passion for

this church I will become a better

Pastor if I discipline myself to to give

attention and have passion for my kids

then I will become a better father if I

discipline myself to to to have passion

and love toward my students I'll become

a better educator and if I condition

myself to have passion and love for

Jesus then I will become a better

Christian I have to discipline my

passion I have to crucify my sin

cynicism and my passion will find a way

to the Forefront of my heart because

passion is not something that you fall

into you don't really fall into love you

cultivate that relationship and you

don't really fall into Jesus you build

it by virtue of the disciplines you have

in your life what that means is it is

not the church's job to entertain you it

is not the pastor's job to keep you

engaged it is not the worship team's job

to motivate you to a place where you can

exper experience the presence of God so

what we need to do is stop blaming the

pastor and stop blaming the worship

leader for our lack of passion because

passion is a discipline that I have to

develop during the week that leads me

into a corporate worship experience on a

Sunday morning and so for those other

six days I have not made it someone

else's responsibility to help me connect

with Jesus I have intentionally

willingly

strategically developed an interior

attitude of my heart that gets me so

excited about church on a Sunday that I

can't help but be passionate when I walk

in here and worship

Jesus it's hot in

here why am I the only one in this room

wearing a suit by the

way one last

verse need some

Gatorade you're like oh cool right

here it is my goal this is my personal

goal in life maybe you want to adopt

this too to to not be like the men in

Luke chapter

Luke 17 · chapter mention

17 and it's very easy for Christians to

be like the men in Luke

17 starting in verse

11 says while traveling to Jerusalem

Jesus passed between Samaria and Galilee

he entered a village and there were 10

men with Leprosy that met him they stood

at a distance because they had to and

they raised their voices they actually

shabbach they were passionate about

Jesus they were passionate toward Jesus

they raised their voice they spoke with

a loud tone and they said Jesus Master

have mercy on us and when he saw them he

does what God always does when we

passionately shout out and use a loud

voice to worship Jesus and he says go

show yourselves to the priest because it

was the priest that had to say if they

were healed or

not and while they were going they were

cleansed so they listened to Jesus they

went on their way toward the priest and

as they're walking to the priest their

wounds had healed the leprosy was gone

all 10 but here's the horrifying

part but all of

them

no but but one of

them one of the 10 people that cried out

to Jesus in their time of need one of

them seeing that they were healed before

even going to the

priest returned to Jesus and with what

kind of a

voice shabbach one more time with a loud

voice gave glory to

God for nine people in their time of

greatest need

God became a means to an end do I doubt

their sincerity when they were shouting

out the Praises I do not because they

had a great need in their life at that

time they did not want to die and they

had heard that Jesus was the great

healer so they cried out to him with a

loud voice they were passionate in that

worship service because they had this

need in their heart and God met that

need and then they're like thanks God

peace and they went on their way

God was just a means to an end that

shabbach was just to get what they

wanted as if God's just this holy

vending

machine but I want to be like the

one I want to be like this one guy that

hey when I have a need I cry out to God

and I beg and I plead and I'm like God

please spare my son God please heal my

mom God please help our church to to be

passionate about you God please do all

these things I have these needs in my

life and so yes I come and I praise God

and I worship him but then when things

are good and sometimes they do get

really

good I still want to have the same

passion to engage God in the same way

because throughout the week I've

developed these spiritual disciplines to

get me excited about the worship service

on Sunday so I can come in here with a

broken heart or I can come in here with

a full heart but at the end of the day

I'm going to praise God with all of who

I am because I'm going to remember all

the things that he has done for me in

the past praise is not a

performance

Praise Is

Real it comes from a deep place inside

your

heart father as we prepare

to to sing about your your

goodness I know that there's people in

this room that may not feel like you are

good and I also know that you think

that's perfect perfectly

okay God there were times in jesus' life

where we see him weeping there are times

in jesus' life where he asked for your

cup to pass from him there were times in

his life where he was so broken and

scared and and worried about what was

next that that he he he begged you Lord

to to the point where he was sweating

blood in the

garden but then at the end of the day he

said well it's not my will but yours be

done because he trusted you and so

that's what I hope for them today Lord

even if they sing this song and don't

really mean the words because their

heart is broken I pray that at the end

of the day they will get back to this

idea this reality this truth that you

are good and you're worthy of Our

Praise I pray that they would be able to

say this morning that your will be

done and father as

we look toward the end of the service I

pray that if the holy SP Spirit has

stirred in our lives in some

way for those that came into this place

seeking a movement of God with the

passion that they had developed

throughout the week for you I pray that

you would act on

that whatever that need is I pray that

right now in these holy moments where

you desire to have a chyos experience

with all of us Lord that that your will

would be done and that we would we would

deny ourselves we would take up our

cross and we would follow you trusting

that you are

good Lord also know in a room that sides

there may be some that have never even

tasted Jesus to find out if he's good or

not they've been doing life on their own

and I so I pray right now Lord that they

would just acknowledge the fact that

it's not working that they need you and

they would pray something like this if

this is you just say that God I know I'm

a

sinner and I need a

savior so I

pray that you would forgive for give me

and you would save me just say something

like Jesus I believe you're God's

son I believe you died on the

cross I believe you rose from the

dead I make you Lord Of My

Life fill me with your

goodness God in this moments you have

heard these prayers you know where we're

at just do what you do show up and meet

us this morning as we praise you in

Jesus name I pray amen